I have three images for today. Yesterday was a miserable day weather wise. Constant rain, temperature only about 42 degrees and windy. Not a good day for photography. I had an appointment to get my hair cut yesterday morning and then an hour to kill before meeting my good friend Mike for lunch at Mario’s Italian Restaurant. One of my favorite places to eat in Dubuque.

Even though the weather was unfavorable for photography I decided to drive down to the river to see what was going on. As luck would have it there were two large barges parked one in front of the other waiting their turn to lock through the dam. I have never seen that before and decided on my return trip I would capture some images. I drove on to the lock and as I pulled into the parking lot there was a turkey vulture sitting on the asphalt. I have never been that close to one of them before. Now the camera is in the back seat still in the bag, it’s raining hard, and the vulture is giving me a close look.

Sure enough when I stopped the car he started unfolding his wings and as soon as I opened my door to get the camera he flew a few feet away to a large rock. Not too bad, still well within range of my big lens. Just got the camera out and a train came though. The tracks run between the bluff and the parking lot, so away he flew and I couldn’t find him after that. 😦

This lonely pelican was floating near the lock so I thought I would capture him since I already had my long lens on the camera. Back in the car, I dried off the equipment and then headed out to see if anything was going on at McDonald park. Of course I had forgotten about the two barges sitting there. It was raining harder and I’ll admit I didn’t want to get out and change lenses in the rain. So I just continued on my way to the park.

The only thing I found of interest at the park were some Common Grackles feeding on some berries. They looked miserable in the cold rain but at least I was able to photograph them from the dryness of the car. 🙂

Do you get the idea that I’m somewhat of a fair weather photographer? I don’t mind getting wet but I don’t like getting my gear wet and of course I forgot to pack my rain pouch for the camera.

Anyway it was time to meet my friend for lunch. We had a great lunch with wonderful conversation and a few self-deprecating jabs. Then home for a nap. 🙂